Jorge Lorenzo’s title hopes have suffered a major setback. The Spaniard crashed heavily during the second session of free practice at the Sachsenring, being thrown from his bike at Turn 10, the final left hander before the fast right hander at the top of the hill. Lorenzo fell on his left shoulder once again, getting up clearly in pain.

The reigning world champion was taken to the medical center, where scans suggested that his collarbone had sustained further damage. He was then transported to hospital, where further tests revealed the plate on his collarbone had become bent, and would have to be replaced.

Unlike Assen, however, Lorenzo will not make a dramatic return to the circuit, and is almost certain to skip both the Sachsenring race and the Laguna Seca round next weekend. That would give the Spaniard over a month to recover, in time for the following round of MotoGP at Indianapolis, in mid-August.

Bending the plate holding a collarbone together is a common occurrence amongst racers, even months or years after the original accident which required the plate to be fitted. A heavy crash on a plated collarbone will sometimes cause it to bend, requiring the plate to be replaced.

Lorenzo Retires Following Sachsenring Free Practice Crash:

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo will not continue to participate in this weekend’s Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland following a high speed crash this afternoon in the second of the day’s free practice sessions. Reigning World Champion Lorenzo had been the fastest rider of the morning session, despite still recovering from surgery just two weeks ago on a collarbone injury sustained in practice for the Assen TT.

The afternoon session had started well with the Mallorcan flying straight into the top of the time sheets with a 1’22.047 second lap. The success was to be short-lived however as less than ten minutes in Lorenzo suffered a huge high-side crash, falling heavily onto the injured shoulder. He was taken immediately to the medical centre for x-rays where it was revealed he had damaged the plate inserted in surgery just two weeks ago. As a result the decision has been made to withdraw from this weekend’s Grand Prix. Lorenzo will fly home to Barcelona this evening and will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair any damage.

Team mate Valentino Rossi carried his confidence from his race win in Assen two weeks ago to the morning session and was quickly up to pace and a serious contender in the top group of riders, wrapping in third just 0.194 seconds from Lorenzo in first. The afternoon saw a more complex session for the Italian as the team worked through a number of different settings and tyre choices to get the best out of the YZR-M1 as the track temperature increased. Rossi completed the first day in fourth position in the combined times just 0.2 of a second from the front.

Source: Yamaha Racing

This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.

man I’m glad it didnt do more damage than bending the plate that was a huge get off…fp1 and 2 was a crashfest.

irksome

Whadda wimp… toughen up, Sailor Moon!

I’m kidding, okay? To me now, this kid is tougher than nails. After Assen, I need to know; what do we call an alien amongst aliens?

Shawn

Any chance there’s enough time to get Crutchlow settled on the factory bike this week or at Laguna Seca?

jimmy smith JR

Give Crutchlow his bike, then after he loses we won’t have to listen to him belly ache about the factory bikes. Everyone will just say, ‘remember the sachsenring? Right….shut up then.’

Soul_reaver

Isn’t it impossible to give Crutchlow Lorenzo’s bike? Doesn’t Jorge have to be out for more than 3 races or something? But I would be interested to see how Crutchlow would perform on factory material

nerve

Oh come on. Crutchlow makes crucial mistakes. He’s ‘mister go wide’. When it mattered, dovi always had the edge on him. Called crutchlow a ‘clean fighter’ : how lethal is that ?

Norm G.

re: “The afternoon session had started well with the Mallorcan flying straight into the top of the time sheets ”

then ended with him flying over his windscreen.

Norm G.

re: “Bending the plate holding a collarbone together is a common occurrence amongst racers, even months or years after the original accident which required the plate to be fitted. A heavy crash on a plated collarbone will sometimes cause it to bend, requiring the plate to be replaced.”

not so much. they can elect to under go another surgery and have it REMOVED. nicky actually had broken his c-bone a few years earlier and then had his get damaged in 2006 when he got clouted by daniel in his run up to being WORL’ CHAMPEEN.

he had it taken out over that winter iirc. once the bones knit, the “adamantium” isn’t really necessary… well unless you just have a thing for hugh jackman or something. civilians just leave it in, being a motorcycle racer as you can imagine, makes that a liability.

JW

This news is a monumental game changer, I hate to say it but the season will heat up over this to the likes we have not seen in many years for the championship. My guess for Sunday: 1) 46 2) 26 3) 93

crshnbrn

This sucks!

I guess now we will find out if the sophisticated electronics on Pedrosa’a Honda RC213V include cruise control.